


The night belongs to lovers

by Bluemoonflower



Category: Robin of Sherwood
Genre: Character Study, Erotica, F/M, Nostalgia, Romance, Sexual Content, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 20:38:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7237558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluemoonflower/pseuds/Bluemoonflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even sir Guy of Gisburne must have <em>some</em> nice memories of his youth...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The night belongs to lovers

**Author's Note:**

> This refers to a particular background story I created for Gisburne over the years, but which I have not written down (yet).
> 
> The lady Aliena that is featured here is based on one of my favourite medieval heroines, Lady Aliena of Shiring from Pillars of the earth. Since I only used her name and physical appearance but chose a completely different background and personality for her, I did not mark this story as a cross-over.
> 
> Inspired by the wonderul song "Because the night" by Patti Smith Group:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACZHv-sLCg

It was so sudden, so unexpected.

Her face in the crowd.

After all those years.

He had been scolding the servants scurrying around in the Great Hall, trying to get the last details for the banquet in order, when he spotted her. To the casual observer, she was just one of the many nobleman’s wives attending the feast. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about her. But to him it was like seeing an apparition. A living, breathing memory from a time so different from his current life, he could barely recall it. As if it had all been a dream, a mere figment of his imagination.

But as he saw her giving instructions to her own servants about the luggage, adjusting her clothes and beckoning the nurse to bring the children closer, it was his life in Nottingham that started to look like the dream. 

She filed into the Hall with the rest of the guests, and noticed him in her turn. Immediately, a flash of recognition, like a bolt of lightning between them. And the same feeling he always used to have in her company came rushing back, effortlessly bridging the seven year gap to that time when they had meant the world to one another.

She looked well. Stately, her dark hair hidden under a wimple as was expected of a wife. Her features were a little sharper than before, more mature. She was no longer a girl. She was a woman now. A mother… But the flicker in her dark eyes he had come to love so much was still the same. 

He remembered how those eyes had looked back at him in the twilight, when the midsummer fair was in town and the whole Gloucester gang had walked across the fields towards it. She had been holding hands with her friend Tilda, whispering something in the girl’s ear, upon which the both of them had started giggling as only two young girls up to no good could. And then Charlie had given him a nudge with his elbow, raising his dark eyebrows like “Tonight’s the night, my friend!” and his stomach had churned and he had felt terrified and excited at the same time. And _alive_. So alive it almost hurt…

All this lay in his expression as he looked upon her now. She smiled, barely noticeable. He did the same. It lasted only a second, but in it they said so much. A whole conversation, without a single word. For they couldn’t let on. Her husband was there.

One by one the guests came forward to greet the Sheriff. Guy let the introductions wash over him, while he anxiously awaited the moment when she would approach the dais. 

‘Baron Godfred De Lasne and the Lady Aliena,’ the usher finally announced.

The Baron was a middle-aged man of average height. Not handsome, but not really ugly either, with an entirely forgettable face. His clothes were modest for a Baron. In fact, Aliena was dressed much more splendidly than he was. But then she’d always been a little prone to vanity.

‘Ah, welcome Baron,’ the Sheriff crooned. ‘I trust you had a safe journey?’

‘Quite agreeable, Robert,’ De Lasne nodded. ‘I don’t believe you’ve met my wife, Aliena?’

‘Charmed, I’m sure.’ The Sheriff motioned at Guy. ‘This is my deputy, sir Guy of Gisburne.’

Guy neighed his head. ‘My Lord Baron, …Lady Aliena.’ Their eye-contact was just a split second too long.

‘You _have_ met, I see?’ the Baron spoke, smiling curiously.

Guy blinked, not sure what to do.

Luckily, Aliena took over. ‘Yes indeed,’ she replied casually. ‘When I was a lady in waiting to the Duchess of Gloucester. Sir Guy was one of the squires there. It was a long time ago.’

‘A lifetime,’ Guy whispered, a little too intensely than he had intended.

‘It’s good to see you again,’ Aliena said, with a polite smile. But her eyes burnt like coals.

‘And you, my lady,’ he managed to utter.

‘Well, you must catch up,’ the Baron spoke genially. ‘Later, during the banquet.’

They bowed and were guided to their places at one of the long tables in the Hall. The children were already waiting there with their nurse.

‘An old flame, Gisburne?’ the Sheriff asked with a condescending smile, as he followed Guy’s gaze.

Guy didn’t answer.

He spent the banquet in silence, not taking much notice of the guests around him. He wasn’t known for his pleasant company anyway, so nobody thought much of it. Only the Sheriff’s mocking looks at the small amounts of food he managed to eat made clear he knew very well what was going on. Guy cursed himself, and the Sheriff, of course. But he couldn’t help it. A juvenile nervousness had come over him, mixed with nostalgia of the worst kind. His eyes wandered over to Aliena’s table time and again. He could only hope the Baron was not as observant as the Sheriff was…

He watched how she ate and drank and made light conversation with the people around her. She didn’t seem too shaken by their unexpected reunion. But then she’d always known how to handle herself in company. She was a real lady, charming and comely. Although never without with an innate cheekiness, just underneath the surface. When he saw her nipping at her wine, eyes twinkling, he just knew she had made one of her daring comments, or perhaps she was suppressing laughter about something stupid one of the other diners had said. Yes, that was Aliena to a T. When he remembered how much fun she used to have at his expense...!

He glanced over at the children. Three boys. The Baron would be pleased with that. No wonder she was adorned with the finest jewellery. Aliena took the youngest child from the nurse and put it on her lap, cuddling it distractedly while she continued following the conversation. Guy felt a pang of regret surge through his body. If only she were holding _their_ son in her arms right now. If only she was married to _him_. How different his life could have been…

Aliena didn’t look at him once throughout the whole dinner. But when the evening turned into night and the guests got more and more inebriated, she motioned at the nurse to take the two eldest children by the hand. Then she stood up and shifted the baby to her hip. The little boy didn’t even wake up. She informed the Baron, who acknowledged her with nothing but a distracted nod, before breaking into a roaring laughter with the other men at the table. 

She walked across the Hall towards the doorway. Her back straight and her head held high, as was her way. Only just before she stepped out, did she turn around and look at him. It was a look that couldn’t be mistaken…

Guy waited until he saw the nurse return alone. Then he got up and left the Hall and all its merriment behind. Unnoticed. Or at least, that’s what he hoped…

She was waiting for him under the archway by the stairs, her face partly hidden in the shadows.

‘Will you show me around the gardens?’ she asked, with that low, slightly husky voice of hers.

He offered her his arm, and they walked outside.

It was a clear night and the moon was almost full, so they could see without a torch. The garden was deserted at this time of night, but Guy knew there were soldiers on the battlements who would recognise his silhouette. They wouldn’t be able to make Aliena out from this far, though. Not enough to know who she was, anyway. And even if they did, all he was doing was talking to her. There was no harm in that, right?

‘You look good,’ he broke the silence. ‘ _Very_ good.’

‘Thank you,’ she smiled, taking the compliment without a hint of false modesty. 

As usual, her self-confidence threw him a little.

‘You don’t look too bad yourself,’ she continued. ‘Even though it seems life has scarred you somewhat since last we saw each other…’

He touched the marks on his face. ‘I suppose you could put it that way…’

‘The wars?’ she inquired.

He scoffed. ‘Hardly.’

She raised her eyebrows.

‘Nottingham has become a very dangerous place in which to uphold the law.'

‘Yes, I know. I’ve heard the stories. I never realised you were _that_ sir Guy…’

He cringed. Bad news traveled fast, and far… This wasn’t how he wanted her to think of him!

‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t believe a _word_.’ She winked at him, giving him a lighthearted smile. He knew she was lying of course, and she knew he knew, but it didn’t matter. She had wanted to be kind, and he was grateful for it. 

‘How have you been, Aliena?’ he whispered, in a tone that made clear he really wanted to know the answer to that question. ‘All those years… your life…’

She shrugged. ‘Being the Baroness De Lasne is a tedious business, but as you know I’m well capable of making my own amusement.’

‘No, I mean… are you… are you _happy_?’ As he spoke the words, he realised how important this was to him. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

Her playful expression faded away, and a badly masked sadness came in its place. ‘You mean to ask if I love him?’ She averted her eyes and raised her shoulders in a slow shrug. ‘Godfred is a kind man, and he treats me with respect. We have come to appreciate one another.’ Then she looked at him again, and her smile was unmistakable: ‘But I _love_ my children. So very much.’

He nodded. ‘That’s good.’

‘Three boys, can you imagine?’ she sighed and rolled her eyes. But he could see them sparkling, even in the pale light of the moon. ‘Godfred is six. He’ll leave us next year to become a page. Then I have Arthur, who is four, and then the youngest, Guy, is two.’

Startled, he looked at her. ‘You… you named your son after me?’

Aliena seemed a little disconcerted by this. ‘Well, _actually_ ,’ she explained, ‘it’s the name of a cousin of Godfred’s, twice removed.’

Guy didn’t know where to look. ‘Oh… yes, of course… Forgive me… I shouldn’t have presumed…’ 

She let him squirm for a just a little while longer, before breaking into laughter. ‘Of course I named him after you, you fool!’ She smiled mischievously and grabbed his arm a bit tighter. ‘The first one had to be named after Godfred, and the second one after Godfred’s father. But the third one… the third one was _mine_.’

He frowned. ‘Didn’t the Baron wonder?’

‘I told him I named him after one of _my_ cousins, twice removed.’

‘Oh.’

Guy was still too embarrassed by the whole thing to meet her eyes.

Aliena laughed again and shook her head. ‘In some aspects you’re very different from what I remember, Guy. But in others, you’re still so very much the same…’

He looked away, but couldn’t suppress a smile. ‘And you,’ he retorted, with a mixture of reproach and amusement.

‘Yes, well, you know I like my little jokes.’ 

They walked side by side in silence for a while, along the hedgerows. It was a warm summer night and the roses dangled heavy from their stalks, pale blue in the moonlight.

She gave him a nudge and whispered: ‘Remember when we used to sneak out of Gloucester Castle? All those nights in the fields by the lake, all that wine?’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘How could I forget?’

‘And Charlie and Tilda, humping away in the shrubbery.’

He laughed openly now. ‘Yes… They were like rabbits, those two.’

She giggled, and they looked at each other for a moment, each thinking of things long gone. Things they had shared. Sweet memories. Sweet satisfaction…

But then Aliena’s eyes grew sad. ‘I missed you at his funeral…’

Guy looked at the ground. It had been ages since he had thought of his best friend. But Charlie’s death was still like an open wound. When he found his voice again, he answered: ‘I was in France. The battle of Argentan. I only heard about it two months after he was buried.’

‘I never understood why you ran off to the wars when you did. The Duke of Gloucester was sad to see you go, and Charlie was absolutely devastated. You two were practically inseparable.’

Guy made a helpless gesture. How could he answer that?

Aliena halted, gently pulling his arm until he turned around and faced her. ‘It’s because of what happened that winter after I left to get married, isn’t it?’ she whispered intensely. ‘When you went home to the manor for Christmas? Not even Charlie seemed to know what transpired there. I asked him once, but he said you wouldn’t tell him. All he knew was that you weren’t the same afterwards.’

Guy’s expression hardened. ‘That is a burden I have to carry alone.’

Aliena remained silent for a while. Then she said, with a sigh: ‘You are unhappy, Guy. It pains me to see it.’

He was taken aback by the honest concern in her voice. It had been a long while since anyone had spoken to him in that way.

‘What are you doing here?’ she continued. ‘Living in this dreary castle, under the employ of that dreary man? You are too good for that.’ 

He scoffed and looked away.

‘Why aren’t you married, with children of your own? There must have been other girls, surely…’

‘My heart is a stone, Aliena.’

They stood before each other in the shadow of a big hawthorn. Somewhere in the distance, the eerie hoot of an owl sounded. Aliena took a step forward and whispered: ‘Does it still beat for me?’

He looked into her eyes. Even in the darkness, they glinted with fire and life. He pulled up his sleeve and revealed a simple horse-hair bracelet. Black and white cord intertwined. ‘Always,’ he replied gruffly.

Aliena gave him her hand, with the palm up. He brushed her sleeve back, and between the heavy gold and silver chains he discovered the bracelet’s counterpart. He ran his thumb over the thin string. And then it wandered to the soft skin on her wrist.

Aliena’s breathing got faster. The wimple she wore was of the type that didn’t cover her neck, and he could see she the goose bumps his touch was causing. Her lips parted in a sigh, and he remembered how she had sighed that night, long ago, when she had given herself to him for the first time. The sound of the fair in the distance. The cool of the midsummer night’s air. The way she had pulled her shift over her head, slowly, deliberately, all the while looking him square in the eye. She had been just as inexperienced as he had, but she had taken the iniative without any hesitation or fear. Her kiss had still tasted of the strawberries he had bought for her at the fair. And God, that moment... That blissful moment when she had surrendered to him, making clear she chose him above all others. Pure, she had bled for him, as he claimed her prize for his own. After that night, he had been a boy no more…

Aliena’s scent wafted towards him, and the memories it conjured up were more intoxicating than the smell of the roses. He wanted nothing more than to pull her close and kiss her, long and slow. But it was too dangerous. She belonged to another now.

‘Not here,’ he managed to say, with a look at the guards on the battlements.

 

*

 

When they reached the relative safety of his chamber, he asked her if she would like some wine. It was a habit. He always offered the girls he brought up here something to drink first. But Aliena didn’t need an introduction. They’d had their introductions years ago. They knew each other’s bodies, each other’s hearts. She shook her head, her dark eyes burning with an emotion that made his other conquests fade in comparison. Lust, passion, _love_ …

Guy took her face in his hands, his chest heaving in anticipation. Both of them were breathing hard now, their lips slightly parted. It was an exquisite delight, these few moments of delay. This sensing of the almost tangible yearning between them. Slowly, he ran his thumb over the curve of her bottom lip. With a sigh she opened her mouth, warm and welcoming, and an overwhelming desire rose up within him. He moved forward and kissed her. 

She tasted as she had always tasted. Like sweet surrender. Like warm summer nights and the sparse moments of true happiness in his whole wretched, miserable youth. In an instant, the years in between melted away and he felt fifteen all over again. And a mildness he had thought long gone, perished in the suffering, the wars and the bleakness of life in Nottingham Castle, suddenly came back to life. His kiss was softer than usual. His touch gentler. More careful. As if Aliena was still the maiden of before, opening up to him for the very first time.

He felt her shiver as his lips went on to caress her cheek, her earlobe and the sensitive skin on her neck. Carefully, he pulled her wimple off and set free to her beautiful, dark hair. He brought a handful to his face and breathed in deeply. The scent of it almost made him feel light-headed. Their mouths found each other again, and she sighed with desire under his caress. Her fingers ran through his hair, grabbing it as the kiss intensified. 

‘Take me,’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘Take me now…’

He quickly undid his belt, and she helped him remove of his robe and linen undershirt. Then he pulled her against his bare chest and she surrendered willingly as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He savoured her elaborately, famished for the love he had missed for so long. He wanted to lose himself in her, own her, possess every part of her.

‘Don’t break it,’ she panted, as he tried to pull her collar downward. ‘He’ll see.’

She turned around, inviting him to undo the straps on her back. He had to fight the urge to just take his dagger and slash the blasted things open, but she was right of course, he couldn’t send her to her husband with a dress that was cut into ribbons. He swallowed and brushed her hair out of the way before he started the delicate endeavour. He fumbled quite a bit in the beginning, but after a while he sort of got the hang of it. It was silent in the room, and the only sound was that of their own rapid breathing. He could see Aliena’s chest go up and down, see a forgotten lock of her hair cascade down her back, as with each strap a little more skin was revealed. And suddenly he was grateful he had been forced to take his time for this. When he was finished, her bodice hung loosely around her shoulders and he had regained his composure a little. 

She exhaled when he put his lips on her skin of the delicate place where her shoulder met her neck. He slid the gown further down, all the while showering her with little, soft kisses, until the bodice dwindled around her waist. Then he put his arms around her, pulling her close. She was still wearing an under-dress, but the linen was so fine he could see and feel everything. When his hands found their way to her bosom, he uttered a small, strangled noise. She had always been voluptuous, but bearing children had made her even more abundant. When he imagined what her breasts must have been like, swollen and brimming with milk, he almost lost the power to think.

‘Aliena…’ he whispered, totally overcome by desire.

She turned around and her gown fell to the ground. She stood before him in nothing but the sleeveless under-dress now. Her breasts dangled heavy and loose without the support of the gown, the dark nipples clearly visible underneath. He’d had an erection ever since he had first touched her wrist, back in the garden, but now it felt like he was going to burst out of his breeches. They were made of linen too, and left equally little to the imagination. He was positively straining to be released. He wanted to grab her, taste her, devour her… And then Aliena put her hand on his bulge and started to rub him. The right way.

‘Christ!’ he gasped. ‘I have to have you!’

He kissed her all over, hurried, impatient. Her mouth was open, panting, looking for his. They pushed and pulled at each other until they somehow ended up in bed. 

He stripped her under-dress off and inhaled between his teeth at the glory of her body. So familiar a body it was, and yet so different at the same time. She moved her hands to her belly, as if to cover it, but the marks that testified of her three pregnancies didn’t bother him in the least. He pulled her hands away, and she relaxed visibly. Full and giving, she lay underneath him now, waiting for him. He didn’t know what to do first. He wanted every part of her, all at the same time. 

Gently, he put his hands on her breasts and squeezed them. Then he closed his lips around one of the heaving nipples. She gasped and arched her back. The nipple budded in his mouth, rising up against the caress of his tongue. He suckled it hungrily, while he continued kneading her breasts. Then he moved to the other one, taking the first between his finger and thumb and rubbing it gently, wet as it was.

‘More…’ she breathed. ‘ _More!_ ’

He just couldn’t get enough. He alternated between her breasts, but she kept begging for more, and that was he wanted too. With a lustful moan, he pushed her breasts together and took both of her nipples in his mouth at the same time.

‘Oh God!’ she screamed, pushing her hips upwards in an instinctive moment. 

Her lush flesh filled his hands, ran over their cup. Her nipples, already upright, hardened between his lips like never before, and he sucked them and licked them until he thought he had died and gone to heaven.

‘Take me…’ she begged, panting frantically while he pleasured her. ‘Take me now!’

He ran his hands over her belly, grabbed her fleshy hips and pulled her legs upwards. The sight of her wet nakedness almost made him cry out. He sat up and loosened his breeches, with trembling fingers. Every fiber of his being yearned for her. His erection was throbbing, as if all his passion and desire were concentrated in that one part of his body. The tool by which they would melt together and become one.

She opened her thighs a little wider, and with a grunt he pushed inside of her. Her soft warmth surrounded him, and in that moment all his troubles, all the pain and suffering, the humiliations and the mistakes, simply disappeared.

This was where he wanted to be. Forever. Between Aliena’s legs, in Aliena’s arms, in Aliena’s mouth. This was home. His real home. The only place where he had ever felt safe. He kissed her, his lips full and tender against hers, as he slowly started making love to her.

She was so wet, so willing. Her body blossomed underneath him in all its plenty, her skin glowing with the blush of passion, her muscles flexing as she did her best to receive him. He kept the pace as low as he could bear. He wanted to feel every inch of himself slide in and out of her. He wanted to make it last, to make every moment count. 

Her breasts moved on the rhythm of his thrusts, rising up towards him, the hard nipples rubbing against his chest, and he couldn’t resist.

‘Yes,’ she breathed, as he licked her again. ‘Fuck me, fuck me hard...’

He released her breasts and pulled her arms above her head. She wrapped her legs around him, opening up to him even more. He closed his eyes and pushed into her as deep as he could. She cried out in pleasure, and a breathless moan escaped his own mouth. He buried his hard length into her again and again. With each thrust he felt himself come closer to her essence, to the ultimate. 

This was heaven, there was no other word to describe it.

His whole sense of time fell away, and there was nothing else in the universe but him and her, united as one.

When the feeling came, it announced itself like a rising tidal wave. He could feel it gathering power, massing deep within him. His movements became bolder, faster. Aliena’s breathing picked up, her moans got more and more desperate. He felt she was close, so he moved his upper body away from her, ready to pull out. 

‘No, don’t!’ she started, as she drew him towards her again.

‘What’s the matter?’ he panted.

‘Don’t pull out.’

‘What?!’

‘Please,’ she whispered, her eyes half-closed, her legs tightly wrapped around his waist. ‘Please…’

‘We can’t. You know we can’t!’

‘I don’t care. I want your child, Guy. I want to look into your eyes every day.’

‘You… you don’t realise what you’re asking!’ He frowned from the effort of restraining himself. He hardly dared to move anymore, but Aliena kept grinding her hips, luring him into a quicker pace again. 

‘Please,’ she begged, in between kisses. ‘Please, Guy. Just let go. Unleash yourself inside of me.’

He made a last, desperate effort to try and hold back. Used all of his will power not to let his hips buck and just explode inside of her. But the idea of his child in her belly. His child in her arms, suckled by her, loved by her. It was too much. His chest heaved, the wave rose up and a violent bolt of lightning flashed through his head.

He heard Aliena scream in ecstasy.

Guy grunted, gasped, uttered a strangled moan…

And pulled out just in time.

His semen gushed over her belly, in hot, white spurts. 

‘My love, _why_ …’ Aliena caressed his face, a painful expression on hers. 

He sank down on top of her. She had always liked the feeling of his weight pressing down on her after the act of lovemaking, and that hadn’t changed. She wrapped her arms around him and they lay like that for a while, waiting for their breathing to settle down. Guy shivered, his body still sensitive from the intensity of the orgasm and the emotions he had just lived through. Then he rolled off of her and wiped them both down with a corner of the bed sheets.

As they lay face to face on their side, he tried to avoid her gaze. But her voice pulled him in. ‘Oh Guy…’ Her dark eyes shone beautiful with the afterglow, and at the same time he read an infinite sadness in them. She shook her head. ‘I thought you _loved_ me?’

‘I do,’ he whispered hoarsely. ‘So very much.’

‘Then why do you deny me this?’

He cast his eyes down. ‘Forgive me, Aliena. I would die for you if you asked me to. But this is something I just cannot do.’

‘But _why_?’

He shook his head. How could he put such a sentiment into words?

‘I just _can’t_ ,’ he repeated, barely audible. ‘Believe me, it’s for the best. Nothing good could come from it.’

The silence was heavy with her disappointment. ‘Maybe you’re right...’ She smiled at him, but her eyes ran over with tears when she continued: ‘But I would have loved the little one so…’

‘I know.’ He had trouble keeping his voice from trembling when he pulled her close. ‘Oh, _mon amour_ …’ He let her weep against his chest, with little, quiet sobs.

After a while, when she had settled down and they were lying peacefully in each other’s arms, Guy’s thoughts wandered into the past again. And this time the memories he visited weren’t the happy ones. Yet he didn’t recoil from them as abruptly as he usually did. His mind was more open tonight, more serene. He felt Aliena move in his arms, and suddenly he found himself wondering if his mother and father – his _real_ father¬ – had ever lain together like this. If they had loved each other. 

Would that have made a difference to him? 

A strange feeling crept in on him, right at the edge of his consciousness. He tried to grab it, to hold on to it, but it faded away before he had the chance.

He didn’t know the answers. He never had. He could barely bring himself to allow the questions themselves into his mind. All he knew, was that he didn’t think anything less of Aliena for asking him what she had. And in some dark place deep within, he was even able to forgive himself for almost granting her request.

He pressed a kiss on the top of her head and a dull pain rose in his chest when he realised that after tonight they’d probably never see each other again. 

‘Life has not been kind to us,’ she whispered, as if he had spoken his thoughts out loud. ‘But at least we have our memories. Nobody can ever take those away.’ 

‘That’s true…’ 

Guy looked outside, at the dark velvet of the sky. Only a few hours left before daybreak. ‘Will you stay a while longer?’ he asked, in a soft voice. ‘Or will the Baron miss you by now?’

Aliena smiled.

‘The night is no time for husbands,’ she whispered. ‘It belongs to us, the lovers.’

She leaned in and kissed him, and their passion stirred anew.

 

*

 

As they rode out of Nottingham Castle at a gentle pace, the Baron De Lasne glanced sideways at his wife. She was looking behind her, seemingly at the carriage with the children. But her eyes flew upwards for a moment, lingering on a window above the Hall. There, the unmistakable figure of the Sheriff’s deputy just moved out of sight.

‘There will not be a golden haired baby in our crib next spring, I trust?’ the Baron asked. 

‘Well,’ he insisted, when she didn’t answer. ‘What do you say, my dear lady wife?’

Aliena nearly scoffed at his attempt to sound stern. But when she looked into her husband’s eyes and saw the uncertainty there, her heart mellowed. After all, it wasn’t his fault she didn’t love him, nor that he didn’t love her back. What noble marriage could boast mutual love? All they could be grateful for was their respect for each other. Not always so common a thing…

And suddenly, Aliena felt relieved Guy had denied her her wish. Just a little.

‘Don’t worry, my lord husband,’ she replied, in a tone of voice that was impossible to read. ‘There is no chance of that, I assure you...’


End file.
